One in Six U.S. Jews Identify as Republican

Prior to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's recent comments questioning U.S. support for Israel and the subsequent backlash suggesting that Jewish Americans may be abandoning the party over the issue, roughly half of U.S. Jews identified as Democrat in Gallup polling. Far fewer, 16%, said they were Republican.

These results come from combined Gallup tracking poll data for 2018, encompassing over 75,000 interviews with U.S. adults, including 938 self-identified Jewish Americans.

Americans' Political Affiliations in 2018, by Religious Group*

Republican

Independent

Democrat

%

%

%

Jewish

16

31

52

Protestant/Other Christian

35

36

27

Catholic

26

40

30

Mormon

50

39

10

None/Atheist/Agnostic

12

51

35

All Americans

26

40

29

*Figures based on 2018 Gallup Tracking

Gallup, 2018

President Donald Trump criticized Rep. Omar's comments, alleging Jews are abandoning the Democratic Party in response. While it is too soon to know whether Jewish Americans' orientation to the major parties has changed in recent weeks, Gallup trends suggest the potential is there. In 2008, 55% of Jewish Americans identified as Democrats, compared with the current 52%. The change in Democratic Party identification is consistent with the trend among all U.S. adults, from 35% in 2008 to 29% now.

Although Trump has waded into the controversy, he has relatively few supporters among Jewish Americans. In fact, Jewish Americans were among the least likely to approve of Trump of all religious groups in 2018, with just 26% approving and 71% disapproving.

Americans' Views of President Donald Trump in 2018, by Religious Group

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?*

Approve

Disapprove

%

%

Jewish

26

71

Protestant/Other Christian

50

46

Catholic

38

57

Mormon

61

34

None/Atheist/Agnostic

24

72

All Americans

40

55

* Figures based on 2018 Gallup Tracking

Gallup, 2018

With Jewish Americans representing about 2% of the U.S. population, most opinion polls do not have enough Jewish respondents in a single poll to report reliable estimates for the group. As such, it would be at least several months for U.S. polling to be able to document whether Jewish people are abandoning the Democratic Party over some of its members' views on U.S. policy toward Israel.

Whether that occurs will depend on how long the controversy remains an issue within the Democratic Party. Although Americans' party preferences do shift in response to short-term events, there is no guarantee that any decline in Jewish identification as Democratic would directly benefit the Republican Party. Many of those former Democrats could wind up in the independent category.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted in 2018, on the Gallup U.S. Poll, with a random sample of 75,669 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point at the 95% confidence level. For results based on the total sample of 938 Jewish Americans, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.